Rebels of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) have been waging a guerilla war against Turkey since the mid-1980s. According to official Turkish figures, more than 15,000 people have lost their lives. As the conflict has worsened, so have the human rights abuses committed against the Kurds by the Turkish authorities but the West's view of Turkey as a vital member of NATO and a bulwark against conflict in the Balkans means that it has failed to speak out against Turkey's actions. Rugman and Hutchings reveal the plight of the Kurdish people and attempt to redress the under-reporting in the West of the Kurdish conflict.